Going back to school (looking for a course of study)

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PopeKevinI

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I'm a 28-year-old college dropout. I quit because I couldn't find a course of study that I liked, and went straight into doing computer work. I'm looking now at going back and picking up a degree because I seem to be hitting a ceiling in my career path without one.

I like being a joack-of-all-trades as IT goes. I've done network admin, some minor web design stuff (I'm learning PHP and MySQL right now), and whole lot of hardware and network setup and maintenance.

I'm trying to figure out what I want to focus on in schol that will give me a job that isn't the same thing every day. I like programming, but it's not something I want to do full time. I'm kind of leaning toward database administration right now because I'm getting into MySQL and can see where it can be a good blend of OS and software maintenance, coding, and other duties that will keep monotony at bay.

Any suggestions? What do you guys do/have degrees in, and what do you like about it?
 
Sounds like a CS degree, or a CIS ( or whatever they call it. Computer Sciences, or Information Management ). CS will be more focused on programming, while you will get more management course with the CIS.

6 of one, half dozen of another. What you get your degree in and what end up doing usually don't equate. My boss, for example, has a 4 year degree in journalism ( I work in the IT dept at a city ).
 
XOR != OR said:
6 of one, half dozen of another. What you get your degree in and what end up doing usually don't equate. My boss, for example, has a 4 year degree in journalism ( I work in the IT dept at a city ).
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Agreed. My boss, now the director of computer services, has a masters degree in French!
 
I've worked with people who've had degrees in Horticulture. Makes you feel totally in the wrong place.
 
Get a MIS degree and go into IT consulting (Look at BearingPoint, Avanade or Accenture) if you like being the "jack-of-all-trades". As what other people say what you have a degree in really doesn't matter; I personally have one in economics but do enterprise computer consulting (datacenters etc).

Best decision in my life. Its nice sitting next to a goverment client knowing you make 2x what he does for doing the same thing.
 
Yeah I have a couple of friends who work in Jersey City working in the financial industry maintaining databases and programming other applications for them. It seems to be a good place to stay.
 
Seems like you want to work for a small shop then, where you are alone or with a few other IT people.
 
consider a two year degree from a community college. my CC has three courses: software, programming, and web design. they are pretty much the same, except for depending on which path you take, you take an extra class or two in that field.

you can knock it out quick and you'll be at least able to put down a AS on your resume. then get to work on your 4 year degree (making sure those credits will transfer of course).
 
Computer Science is a good "general" degree.

They say College is the new High School, which is rather sad about our education system, but that is 100% correct.
Most companies just want you to have a degree in SOMETHING, they can care less what, but in something, to say you are college educated (that used to be what HS did).

There are more specific degrees out there more focused on Programming, Networking, Consulting, and on and on. Although Computer Science leans more to programming, it is a generalized degree which should get your foot in the door easily.

you can knock it out quick and you'll be at least able to put down a AS on your resume. then get to work on your 4 year degree (making sure those credits will transfer of course).
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I must add to this... even getting it over the Internet is a possibility. No schedules to keep on a day-to-day basis (obviously schedules for papers due, tests, etc, but no day-to-day schedule). Means you can do it in the evenings or whenever you have a spare chance. If you end up going somewhere one evening, it doesn't matter- you can work around it.
Use a reputable college though. I've had classes through some colleges, and I swear the teachers are just picked up off the street...
 
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